Category Archives: Healthier Options

Healthy Chocolate Brownies: Prunes lend a fudgy texture to these dense dark chocolate brownies besides making these brownies uber healthy. Instead of using processed sugar and butter, these are made with the goodness of honey and extra virgin olive oil.

I love brownies. They are one of my favorite desserts. This recipe for healthy chocolate brownies, adapted from here, is a healthier version of the classic brownies.

I love my brownies to be fudgy and dense, and less cake like. And this recipe yields just that.

Prunes are basically plums that have been dried naturally in the sun without undergoing any fermentation process. Prunes are a great source of Vitamin A, iron and antioxidants, and thus are great for your skin and hair. Prunes also are a good source of potassium, helping in keeping blood pressure low and supporting bone health. 1 prune provides 3% of recommended daily fiber intake, thus are great for digestion. (source: food.ndtv.com).

Adding prunes to the classic brownies not only gives these healthy chocolate brownies a distinct taste, but you also get all the health benefits that prunes come with. By replacing the butter with extra virgin olive oil and processed sugar with honey- the classic brownie is made healthier with no compromise on taste.

If you are looking for a healthy chocolate brownie recipe, do give this a try. If you do try the recipe, please tag me in your creations on instagram, facebook or leave a comment here. Have a great Sunday!

Now that I have moved to India, there are certain things I really miss about the US. Besides my friends, the food has to top the list, and Chipotle’s Burrito Bowl is one of the things I miss quite a lot.

Before moving to Dallas, even in Morenci, Chipotle was a luxury and a must almost every time we visited Phoenix. I had attempted recreating the Chipotle Burrito Bowl recipe at home in the US as well. I remember it was really good, but somehow I never got around write the recipe down for the blog.

Since I had some time to myself between projects, I have been trying to be more active on the blog, a space that keeps getting neglected time and again. Here I am today sharing the recipe for Chipotle’s Chicken Burrito Bowl.

This chocolate amaranth pudding is a great gluten free dessert to make and tastes amazing with a hint of chili and cinnamon.

Today is going to be a long post. I am not only going to talk about this chocolate amaranth pudding(which is delicious by the way) but also something that I have thought about writing for a while. Tips for Weight Loss.

So the weight loss tag in the title is only for SEO purposes. What I really want to say is Tips for a healthier you.

If you have been reading my blog since the beginning (if you have, you know I love you- and am so grateful to you for sticking it out even when I have been inconsistent with my posts). If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you know weight woes have always been there in my life. When I started this blog I was at my thinnest best. But then the first year of married life, I gained a significant amount of weight. The second year onwards I worked towards losing it and documented my journey as well. I did a month of gluten free sugar free diet, a week of raw food, followed by training for a triathlon. That was the time I was my fittest. I have done a juice cleanse diet too. For the most part post that intitial weight gain, my weight has been constant and my diet has been healthy and while I never had a skinny body, I had a healthy, fit one.

In 2015, after I moved to Dallas and within a span of a year I gained 20 kgs. I increased sizes, and was the heaviest I have ever weighed. When I moved back to India, friends and family both were shocked with the amount that I had managed to put on in a span of a year. I wasn’t going through a great time emotionally and all that emotional eating took a toll on my body.

In the 6 months I have been back, I have managed to shed 10 of those kgs that I gained. If pounds is your language, thats 22 pounds for you. In the past in the same time frame I have lost more, but this time I didn’t want any drastic change and the transformation has been slower but consistency is what I was aiming for. Plus, I have been busier work wise too, so fitting a realistic weight goal was what I decided on. It took me a year to gain 20 kgs, I have given myself a year and a half at least to lose it. Actually it took less than a year to gain it, but you get the drift.

Today, I thought I will share tips that worked for me. But before that I want to address an even bigger issue that troubles me when people gain weight. I want to share TIPS with people who have friends and family that have gained weight. I want to tell them the appropriate way to talk to people who have weight issues.

Don’t let the first thing you say to a person you meet after a while be that they have gained weight.

People don’t realize how sensitive a topic weight gain is and while I know you are so very shocked what happened to your best friend’s body, or your aunt, or uncle’s body, that person already knows that they have gained a significant amount, and probably that is why were dreading and putting off meeting you. Don’t make their weight gain the first thing you say to them.

Greet them with a hello, a hug or a kiss even maybe. Ask them how they are. How their work is, how their family is. If they have kids, ask about their well being. There are a ton of topics to talk about besides their obvious weight gain. Talk about the weather, if you find nothing else. Make them feel comfortable before you make them feel conscious. Wait for them to bring their weight issue up on their own. If they don’t, let this meeting be just about stories other than weight. In case they do bring their weight up, be empathetic, and encouraging. Tell them something nice about them which is not weight related- could be that their skin is glowing (fat does that to you sometimes), could be that they are still carrying their weight stylishly and maybe then and only then offer them some advice on a weight loss technique that has worked on you or your so and so cousin from Timbuktoo.

Actually, that is the only tip I have since that’s the one that bothers me the most. The other more obvious tip would be to not constantly make fun of their weight. There are other ways to encourage your loved ones to lose weight. Making jokes about their fat stomach, or heavy bottom is NOT one of them. Also, be supportive.

For the ones who are trying to lose weight, or that extra flab, here are my two cents.